DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description): This application requests continuing support for the pre- and postdoctoral training program in Cancer Biology at the University of Minnesota. This training program is designed to train young scientists in all aspects of modern biological sciences-cell biology, immunology, virology and pathobiology-with special emphasis on cancer research. The training program has been modified to become an integral part of the newly founded University of Minnesota Cancer Center. The 22 training faculty are or have applied for membership in the Cancer Center and selected because of the cancer orientation of their research, their achievements and leadership in their fields of research, their ability to attract research funding and their previous success in training pre- and postdoctoral students. The program is a critical component of cancer biology training in the Microbiology (and now also Pathobiology) pre- and postdoctoral programs and attracts outstanding students to the field. Predoctoral trainees come from either the Microbiology or Pathobiology graduate program. They are selected from those Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. students who have selected a training grant preceptor as their thesis adviser, generally after the first year of study. Students in these graduate programs have prior B.A., B.S. or M.S. degrees. Only students with outstanding academic records and great promise in their research are admitted to the training program. In addition to the course requirements of their graduate programs, including courses in pathobiology and tumor biology, predoctoral trainees are required to complete additional courses on cancer, attend cancer-related seminars sponsored by the Departments of Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, the Institute of Human Genetics, and the Cancer Center, and participate in the NCI-sponsored workshop on the Histopathology of Neoplasia. They plan to develop a cancer course under the auspices of the Cancer Center that will focus on clinical, human, and societal aspects of cancer to supplement the NCI workshop. Postdoctoral students supported on the training grant will be selected by an Executive Committee from those young scientists that have applied directly to one of the preceptors of the training program. The goal of the training program is to provide rigorous training in cancer biology to pre- and postdoctoral students. Such training will prepare them for competitive careers in academia, government and industry, with independent research programs.